southern maryland and the eastern shore, just generally cloudy sky around the region now. as we take a look at the temperatures around the region, we are off to a mild start near 70 around the metro area. farther west in the 60s. as the day progresses, hour by hour, well, through the morning hours, maybe a few of these passing showers. by noontime, some sun breaking out and lower humidity during inn the afternoon. highs reaching 80. a delightful october afternoon coming up. i'm back in ten minutes with the hometown forecast. danella has your traffic. >> on i-95 northbound, paving is blocking all of your right lanes. you can get by, but you're single file to the lest and you're jammed, so paving is taking place between as you approach 17. so slow from 3 in fredericksburg. heading to the beltway, if you're traveling the inner loop of the beltway, 236 construction there. back to you both.

>> thank you. this morning, both campaigns are declaring victory in the first presidential debate of this election. president obama and mitt romney squared off for 90 minutes last night in denver. tracy potts is live in denver now with the latest on the debate. >> reporter: good morning, everyone, from denver, where the pressure was on for mitt romney to perform to back up his ideas with details, taking on the man that even some republicans had described as one of the most skilled debaters in modern politics. the point of this debate was to make differences clear, on lowering the desmt. >> you said you'd cut the deficit in half, it's now four years later, we have trillion-dollar deficits. >> the way we do it is for every $2.50 of additional debt, we ask for a dollar, paid for by those doing very well to contribute a little more to reduce the deficit. >> reporter: the president insisted romney would spend five trillion on tax breaks favoring

the wealthy. >> math, common sense, and our history shows us that's not a recipe for job growth. >> everything he just said about my tax plan is inaccurate. >> they clashed on wall street, whether banks should be too big to fail, and medicare. >> cutting $716 billion from medicare to be able to balance the additional cost of obama care is, in my opinion, a mistake. >> if you repeal obama care, and i have become fond of this term, obama care, if you repeal it, what happens is those seniors right away are going to be paying $600 more in prescription care. >> the fiercest exchange over health care and jobs. >> i just don't know how the president could have come into office facing 23 million people out of work, rising unemployment, an economic crisis at the kitchen table, and spend his energy and passion two years fights for obama care instead of fighting for jobs for the american people. >> we did work on this, alongside working on jobs, because this is part of making sure that middle class families are secure in this country.

>> reporter: president obama on defense, romney challenging his record as both now wait to see if this exchange had any impact on voters. well, we already know it had impact online on twitter. the most tweeted event in u.s. political history. from denver, i'm tracy potts, back to you. >> tracy, thank you. both candidates will be back on the campaign trail today. president obama will stay in denver while mitt romney heads to virginia. and the latest nbc news "wall street journal" poll shows the race in the commonwealth tightening. the president leads his republican rival by 2%. that is within the margin of error. he led there by 4% last month. and in the race, it's even tighter in another battleground state, florida. president obama leads romney by 1%. many virginians are keeping close tabs on this election, especially the ones entering the job market. hundreds of george mason

university students watched, and said they were grading the candidates on what they had to say as well as how they said it. >> i'm not getting a sense of obama as the commander in cheesm. >> and romney? >> romney is really laying it down and being very detailed for once. >> my mind was already made up. but i became a lot more informed. >> i like when they're talking about the health care stuff. and about the middle class. because i'm middle class, so a lot of that stuff affects me. >> president obama plans on campaigning on the george mason campus tomorrow. and we'll have much more on last night's debate throughout the morning. mark murray will join us later in the morning to break down what the candidates needed to accomplish and whether they were successful. right now, though, some breaking news. >> good morning. turkey has renewed strikes on syria after an attack that left five people dead. we just got some video into the newsroom we can show you now. turkish artillery hit a border town striking several syrian

soldiers. attacks started wednesday after a mortar bomb struck. turkey has no intention of declaring war on syria. right now, two separate searches are under way in our region for two missing teenagers. 17-year-old brian glen was last seen on monday dropping off his brother at woodson high school in fairfax. this is a picture of him here. a short time later, his car was found at face park, about a mile and a half away. police and blood hounds are combing that area, but so far they've found nothing. inside the car was a receipt from a nearby dunkin' donuts. his father says that sun usual and leads him to believe something happened to his son. >> so all this to us is saying that he's still here somewhere. we've got to find him. he hasn't run away because he hasn't tried to run away. >> as of right now, police say there are no indication of foul play. and in maryland, police are searching for this young man,

15-year-old deriante, last seen at the wheaton community center. he's 5'8" and about 110 pounds. family members say he likes to spend time at the glenmont shopping center. health officials expect more case of a rare form of menin giants in the upcoming days. a specialty fashl si in massachusetts -- health officials are trying to track down hundreds of other people who also receive the injections. this morning the reflecting pool here in d.c. is mostly empty as the national park service tries to solve a growing algae problem. this is video from after the draining. crews drained the reflecting pool yesterday afternoon after

algae spread across the water. when the pool is refilled, it will have different chemicals in it to try and prevent the algae from regrowing. the reflecting pool was closed for two years as part of a $34 million renovation project. everyone is trying to cash in on the nationals' playoff run but the mayor is stepping in to keep you from paying more on your ride to and from the ballpark. yesterday, it was announced a dollar surcharge that would begin two hours before each home playoff game, and until 4:00 a.m. the next morning. but they quickly rescinded the fee after a call from mayor vincent gray who said the charge was ill advised. d.c. police has put hundreds of officers on standby to prepare for the extra crowds at nats stadium. they say however that their regular duties and neighborhood patrols will not be afektded. >> and we were out there yesterday. the one in the afternoon was pretty packed. you know that's a sign of what's to come. >> but how exciting. the playoffs. here we go. >> definitely good news. your time right now is 4:37.

aa local daycare is spending after a mistake that left a toddler wandering alone. the newest feature on facebook that may have you reaching for your wallet. you may want to grab your umbrella as you head out the door. door. we'll looke. the middle class, who move our country forward.

work hard. raise families. and keep america strong. but mitt romney's budget plan will hurt the middle class. raising taxes on the average family by up to $2000 dollars. while giving a tax break of $250,000 dollars to multi-millionaires. doesn't mitt romney understand, we can't rebuild america...by tearing down the middle class. priorities usa action is responsible for the content of this advertising.

and the win sner is going t

be teddy! >> teddy finally won. he finally won the president's race yesterday during the nats' final game of the regular season. before the race, teddy was given a pair of shiny yellow underarmor shoes and it seemed to be the trick, that along with the philly fanatic. it was the first time since 2006 that teddy won. >> hats off to teddy there. >> there was a whole campaign teddy 2012. he finally did it. >> the crowd went absolutely wild when he won that race. he came out slow. he was kind of way in the back. >> way, way in the back. there are some detractors that said was it a smart move to let teddy win? >> because where's the thrill? >> i say yes. >> i do, too. who knows when he'll win again? time for traffic. >> tom kierein here with your forecast. >> there's the capital under a

cloudy sky this morning. the washington monument is dry for now, but we do have some showers beginning to approach the metro area coming in from the south and west ahead of a weak front. right now getting somestringles across northern virginia and into western maryland. and temperatures across the region. our hometown forecast is going to be similar to the entire region. waldorf in charles county by 6:30, upper 60s with a few sprinkles. near 80 by mid afternoon with increasing sunshine and lower humidity. a look at big changes heading into the weekend. how is traffic now? >> still some paving slowing you down. traveling north from fredericksburg on i-95, you're slow. your travel speed is about 20 miles per hour as you get closer to 17. so paving is taking place between 3 and 17. heading over to the beltway, inner loop still has the ramp to

little river turnpike blocked because of construction. good news on the outer loop at van doren. your travel lanes are open. still to come, getting a second chance at finding a good home. how you can help these adorable faces. plus, meet the man who's putting his football

15 before the hour. this morning, a maryland man is fighting for his life after police say he was robbed and brutally attacked. the 72-year-old man was reportedly on his way to the mega latino market a few blocks from his house on tuesday night. instead, guzman's son found him early yesterday morning lying in a parking lot. he suffered a severe brain

injury in the attack and is in critical condition. >> i don't think he was able to defend himself at all. the way they did this to him, they left him in the cold, in the rain without clothes, took off his shoes and everything. i can't believe it. >> montgomery county police handed out fliers in the community yesterday in hopes of catching guzman's attacker. fairfax county police trying to figure fout a string of sexual assaults in the springfield area are connected. a 15-year-old girl says a man grabbed her from behind and assaulted her. three similar attacks were reported in the same area and all the victims were teenage girls. a d.c. daycare faces disciplinary action after a toddler was left behind in a nearby park. two nannies found the boy with no shoes at livingston park. friendship childrens center uses the park daily. it realized the 2-year-old about

an hour later when the boy's father ran to pick up his son. they went running back to find the boy. other parents called the incident upsetting. >> if this is a childcare center that does this all day, i'm sure the person responsible for this child must feel terrible about this. >> the daycare says the teacher who was supposed to be watching the toddler has been disciplined. friendship children's center reported the incident to district education officials who launched an investigation. d.c. police need your help finding a guy who robbed the payless shoe store. he walked into that store last thursday afternoon. he gave the employee a note and then pulled out his gun. the worker quickly started handing over money from the register. d.c. police offering a $10,000 reward for information on the gunman that leads to an arrest and conviction. defenders for the colorado theater shooting suspect say prosecutors have twice violated gag orders on the case. defenders for james holmes say an updated mug shot was improperly leaked to the media late last night. they also mailed details of a

notebook were also leaked. his defense team says government prosecutors deliberately leaked both of these items to the media. the judge presiding over the trial will hold a hearing about the possible leaks on october 11th. a new york federal judge ruled the iran, taliban and al qaeda must pay $6 billion for their roles in the september 11 attacks. the judge says he hopes this mostly symbolic lawsuit will help provide relief for some of the victims' families. iran has repeatedly denied any connection to the attacks or al qaeda. american airlines says a mechanical problem, not human error, caused seats to come loose on several planes midflight. the carrier inspected 48 of its boeing 747s with similar seats and all are back in service. in a statement, the airline officials blamed a problem with the tracks the seats sit on and the locking mechanism. the faa still conducting its own investigation into those loose seats. virginia's hotly contested

senate race is becoming new defined. the survey shows democrat tim kaine leading republican george allen 49% to 44%. that's among likely voters. it breaks a deadlock the two candidates were in just three weeks ago when each received 46% of support in the same poll. tim kaine's camp believes her getting some help from the president. maryland governor martin o'malley is stepping up his rhetoric against tv ads that oppose expanding gambling in the state. the governor said they are a bunch of west virginia hooey. he also took issue with suggestions that gambling proceeds won't go to education. o'malley called that ludicrous and pointed to his administration's record spending on schools. this morning, a group is fed up with pepco and is calling to get rid of the power community.

officials and customers all met in silver spring last night. the group suggested a public utility offered by the county. many have complained about their ability to restore service during outages and keep power on. the meeting comes after a state task force recommended companies like pepco to add a monthly surcharge to pay for upgrades. you can now make sure everyone notices your facebook updates for a small fee, that is. the social network is offering a new feature that allows users to make their posts more visible. the promote option, expected to cost about $7 apiece, will make posts higher up on your friends' news feeds. facebook says this new feature will be useful for everything from engagements to garage sale announcements. nearly two dozen dogs rescued from a puppy mill could be ready for adoption pretty soon here. the washington animal rescue league in northwest spent a special vehicle to pick up the dogs from columbia, south carolina. police say there were 200

animals living in deplorable conditions. many now have issued like eye infections, skin irritations and socialization problems. medical and behavior teams are now checking dogs out and will determine when they can be adopted and move into some loving new homes. >> cute faces. hope they all find a good home. >> good place to be. time for weather and traff on the 1s. tom kierein. are we getting any rain today? certainly feels like a little bit out there. >> we have some sprinkles now in the western suburbs, southern suburbs, just now beginning to move in. it's along a weak front coming your way. still a dry sky in washington. live view from our hd city camera. right now 71 at reagan national. dew point still steamy. after yesterday's summer in october weather, we're going to have a big change moving in by later this afternoon. and ahead of that, well, we have some rain falling from the carolinas all the way into maryland, west virginia, and pennsylvania, and we will have a

few of these passing showers moving through this morning. right now getting some showers prince william, and into loudoun county, one moderate shower around leesburg. just now coming into western fairfax, a very few sprijs ths s fairfax, a very few sprijs thpr moving into northern montgomery county. as well as in the panhandle of west virginia. it's a mild morning around the bail. all these areas in the yellow in the low to mid 70s. where the rain is falling farther west, it's just the low 60s. but behind the front, some chilly weather moving into the midwest. it's only in the mid 50s. much of ohio, indiana, and michigan. for the morning commute, have an umbrella handy. just a few passing showers. we'll be in the upper 60s, low 70s for another couple hours. by noontime, we'll get some breaks in the clouds. we'll be in the low and mid 70s by your lunch hour. by this afternoon, going mostly

sunny and mild and turning less humid, near 80 mid afternoon, back down to the mid 70s early evening. during the day on friday, chilly start tomorrow morning in the 50s. afternoon highs, though, near 80, low humidity, a delightful day on friday, bright sunshine, and then on saturday, sun in the morning clouding up in the afternoon is the way it looks right now. and there is some indication we might get a pasing shower late saturday afternoon, perhaps saturday evening. but a greater chance now of some rain moving through on sunday and ending sunday afternoon. monday, tuesday, wednesday, it will feel like autumn. how's traffic now? >> checking on the roads, we're still seeing some construction. good morning to you. we're going to start along westbound annapolis road. if you're traveling there at landover road, only your left turn lane is going to get you by the road work that's there. along 50 in maryland, things look good. from annapolis as you make your way to the beltway, your travel

lanes are open. even inside the beltway, no issues to report. in both directions, eastbound as well as westbound, travel lanes are open. as you head all the way from landover road to new york avenue, not seeing any issues for you. back over to you. well, he calls himself the ultimate redskins fan. >> and he has the yard to prove it. check this out. he has transformed his front yard into a giant tribute to the team. he says he grew up watching the likes of joe theismann and decided to use his skills as a landscaper to honor the team. every year he says he freshens up his lawn with a few hundred dollars worth of mulch. it's survived everything from wind to rain and says it's pretty easy to maintain. kudos to him for the efrtd. >> i would call that extreme fandom. >> that's dedication right there. good for him, showing the team support.

>> turn that into a business. i know in chesterfield there are a ton of fans. >> there are other teams i won't mention. >> those teams don't matter, though. your time right now is 4:54. feel like leaving the country if your candidate doesn't win the upcoming presidential election? coming up, the airline that is willing to help you carry out that threat without breaking the bank. >> but first, the latest wave of consolidation that could impact your cell phone bill. >> plus, who's naming their kids >> plus, who's naming their kids e. the middle class, who move our country forward. work hard. raise families. and keep america strong. but mitt romney's budget plan will hurt the middle class. raising taxes on the average family by up to $2000 dollars. while giving a tax break of $250,000 dollars to multi-millionaires.

doesn't mitt romney understand, we can't rebuild america...by tearing down the middle class. priorities usa action is responsible for the content of this advertising.

welcome back. struggling cell phone company t-mobile announced a merger in hopes of expanding coverage across the u.s. t-mobile will merge with metro pcs communications. the new company will keep the t-mobile name and have about 42 million subscribers. despite the merger, this company will still be in fourth place by a wide margin. t >> general electric recalling more than 60,000 front loading washing machines because of a possible injury hazard. they say the washer basket could separate and break a piece of the top panel, which could be dangerous for users. this affects models sold between 2008 and 2011. you can call ge appliances at

888-641-9739 to schedule a free repair. for years, we've seen lists of the most popular names for babies in the country. >> but now we're getting a breakdown by states thanks to the social security administration. sophia is the most popular name in the entire region for girls, ranking number one for maryland, virginia, and the district. mason is the most popular name for baby boys. m. in west virginia, madison was number one for boys. isabella ranked number one for girls. >> strong names. did you have trouble? >> we had trouble agreeing, but now we're very happy with all our kids' names. now that you know your child, he or she can't be any other name. >> he looks like that name. >> he really does. >> stay with us. news4 today continues right now at 5:00 a.m. >> and now, this is